five months; to eat immoderately and swill down the drink, and [at the same time] to inquire about [the precept] not to tear off the flesh with the teeth ;-such things illustrate what I say about not knowing what is most to be attended

to."

BOOK VII.

TSIN SIN. PART II.

CHAPTER I. 1. Mencius said, " Opposite indeed of benevolent was king Hwuy of Leang! The benevolent begin with what they [most] love, and proceed to what they do not [so naturally] love. Those who are not benevolent, beginning with what they do not [so naturally] love, proceed to what they [most] love."

2. Kung-sun Ch'ow said, "What do you mean?" [Mencius replied], "King Hwuy of Leang, for the matter of territory, tore and destroyed his people by employing them in fighting. Having sustained a great defeat, he wished to fight again; and, fearing lest the people should not be able to get the victory, he urged his son, a youth, whom he loved, [to take the command,] and sacrificed him with them. This is what I call-beginning with what they do not [so naturally] love, and proceeding to what they [most] love."

to customs at meals, see the Le Ke, I. Pt I. iii. 54—59. To tear off the roasted meat from a bone with the teeth was but a small matter compared with such an exhibition of gluttony as the other clauses speak of.

CH. I. THE OPPOSITE WAYS OF THE BENEVOLENT AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT BENEVOLENT :-AN EMPHATIC CONDEMNATION OF KING HWUY OF LEANG.

Par. 1. King Hwuy of Leang;-see on I. Pt I. i. 1. See the gradation of loving regards in the benevolent in Pt I. xlv. With what is said of those who are not benevolent, we may compare Pt I. xliv.

Par. 2. "He tore and lacerated his people; "-the characters suggest the idea of the king's dealing with his people as rice is dealt with when it is boiled to a pulpy mass. "He sacrificed his son ; "-see I. Pt I. v. 1.

II. 1. Mencius said, "In the 'Spring and Autumn' there are no righteous wars. Instances indeed there are of one war better than another.

2. "Punitive expeditions' are when the supreme authority smites its subjects. Hostile States conduct no punitive expeditions against one another.”

III. 1. Mencius said, "It would be better to be without the Book of History than to give entire credit to it.

2. "In the 'Successful Completion of the War' I select two or three passages only, [and repose entire credit in them].

3. "The benevolent man has no enemy under heaven. When [the prince] the most benevolent was attacking him who was the most the opposite, how could the blood have flowed till it floated the pestles of the mortars?"

CH. II. HOW ALL THE FIGHTINGS IN THE CH'UN TS'EW WERE UNRIGHTEOUS A WARNING TO THE WARRING STATES OF MENCIUS' TIME.

Par. 1. "The Spring and Autumn; -see the 5th volume of my larger work, "The Ch'un Ts'ëw, with the Tso Chuen." "Wars ;' -the term, according to the phraseology of the Spring and Autumn, should be translated "battles; " but Mencius meant, I believe, to indicate by it all the operations of war mentioned in the Classic of Confucius. We have there 23 battles or fightings, 213 attacks or smitings, with a multitude of "incursions," "sieges," "carryings away," "surprises," &c.

Par. 2. "Punitive," or perhaps, from the composition of the Chinese term, I should say corrective, "expeditions" were competent only to the king, who might carry them out in his own person, or entrust them to one of the princes, or to a combination of them. And some of the presidents of the States in the Ch'un Ts'ëw period might in a measure plead his delegation for their proceedings. Compare what Mencius says in VI. Pt II. vii, 2.

CH. III. WITH WHAT ABATEMENT OF FAITH IN IT MENCIUS READ THE BOOK OF HISTORY.

Par. 1. The utterance here seems at first sight of it in Chinese to mean "It would be better to have no books, than to put entire credit in them; but the reference in par. 2 shows that Mencius had in mind "the Book " par excellence, -the Book of History.

Par. 2. See the Book of History, V. iii. The par, referred to in the next par. here, about the bloodshed, is the 9th. "Passages" is literally "tablets," referring to the slips of wood or bamboo, on which the characters were pricked out with a stylus.

Par. 3. The slaughter here described was made by the forces of the tyrant Chow turning against one another, and not by the troops of "the most benevolent" king Woo. The amount of it is probably exaggerated; but something of the kind is easily conceivable.

Some writers think that Mencius expressed himself so strongly, foreseeing

IV. 1. Mencius said, "There are some who say, 'We are skilful at marshalling troops; we are skilful at conducting battles.' They are great criminals.

2. "If the ruler of a State love benevolence, he will have no adversary under heaven.

3. "When [T'ang] was conducting his punitive expeditions in the south, the rude tribes on the north murmured. When he was doing so in the east, the rude tribes on the west murmured Their cry was,-'Why does he make us last? '

4. "When king Woo attacked Yin, he had [only] three hundred chariots of war, and three thousand guards.

5. "The king said, 'Do not fear. Let me give you repose. I am no enemy to the people.' [On this] they bowed their heads to the gronnd, like the horns [of animals] falling off.

6. "The phrase 'punitive expedition' has in it the meaning of correction. Each [State] wishing to have itself corrected, what need is there for fighting?

V. Mencius said, "Cabinet-makers, builders, wheel

what precedents for their abnormal courses might in future time be sought in the Book of History by rebels and oppressors. Compare our philosopher's rule for the interpretation of the Book of Poetry in V. Pt I. iv. 2.

CH. IV. COUNSEL INTENDED FOR RULERS, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE DECEIVED BY MEN WHO WOULD ADVISE THEM TO WAR. GRAND SUCCESS IS TO BE OBTAINED BY BENEVOLENCE.

ter.

Par. 1. Compare IV. Pt I. xiv., and VI. Pt II. ix.

Par. 2. See the saying at the beginning of par. 3 of the preceding chap

Par. 3. See I. Pt II, xi. 2: et al.

Par. 4. In the Preface to the Book of History, par. 3, it is said that on the occasion referred to here Woo had 300 war chariots, and 300 guards. Much has been written on the difference between the two statements, but it is needless to enter here on the matter. Mencius wants to show that Woo's forces were very small as compared with those of his opponent ;-and so, no doubt, they were.

Par. 5. See the Book of History, V. i. Pt II. 9; but the text of that Classic is hardly recognizable in Mencius' version of it, and the meaning of Woo's words in the two Works is different. I do not know how to account for the different texts.

Par. 6. See the note on par. 2 of chapter ii.

CH. V. REAL ATTAINMENTS MUST BE MADE BY THE LEARNER FOR HIMSELF.

wrights, and carriage-builders can give to a man the compass and square, but they cannot make him skilful [in the use of them]."

VI. Mencius said, "Shun ate [his] parched grain, and partook of [his] coarse herbs, as if he were to be doing so all his life. When he became emperor, and had the embroidered robes to wear, [his] lute to play on, and [Yaou's] two daughters to wait on him, he was as if those things belonged to him as a matter of course."

VII. Mencius said, "From this time forth I know the heavy consequences of killing a man's near relations. When a man kills another's father, that other will kill his father; when a man kills another's elder brother, that other will kill his elder brother. So he does not himself indeed do the act, but there is only a [small] interval [between him and it] "

VIII. 1. Mencius said, "Anciently, the establishment of frontier-gates was to guard against violence.

2. "

'Now-a-days, it is to exercise violence."

For the general sentiment compare Pt I. xli. The same names of workers in wood, &c., occur in III. Pt II. iv.

CH. VI. THE EQUANIMITY OF SHUN IN POVERTY AND AS EMPEROR.

CH. VII. THE THOUGHT OF ITS CONSEQUENCES SHOULD MAKE MEN CAREFUL OF THEIR CONDUCT :-ILLUSTRATED BY THE RESULT OF KILLING THE NEAR RELATIVES OF ANOTHER.

This remark was made, probably, as observed by Choo He, with reference to some particular case which had come under Mencius' observation. It was a maxim of Chinese society, sanctioned by Confucius, that "a man should not live under the same heaven with the slayer of his father, nor in the same State with the slayer of his elder brother."

CH. VIII. THE BENEVOLENCE OF ANCIENT RULE AND THE SELFISHNESS OF MODERN SEEN IN THE REGULATIONS ABOUT THE FRONTIER-GATES.

Par. 1. Anciently the object contemplated by these gates was to prevent the ingress or egress of parties dangerous to the State.

Par. 2. In Mencius' time they were maintained chiefly for the collection of duties. Compare II. Pt I. v. 3.

IX. Mencius said, "If a man do not himself walk in the right way, it will not be walked in [even] by his wife and children. If he order others but not according to the right way, he will not be able to get the obedience [even] of his wife and children."

X. Mencius said, "A bad year cannot prove the cause of death to him whose [stores of] what is needful are complete; an age of corruption cannot throw him into disorder whose [equipment of] virtue is complete."

XI. Mencius said, "A man who loves fame may be able to decline a kingdom of a thousand chariots; but if he be not [really] the man [to do such a thing], it will appear in his countenance in the matter of a small basket of rice, or a dish of soup."

XII. 1. Mencius said, "If the benevolent and worthy be not confided in, a State will become empty and void.

2. "Without the rules of propriety and distinctions of what is right, high and low will be thrown into confusion.

CH. IX. How A MAN'S INFLUENCE DEPENDS ON HIS OWN EXAMPLE AND PROCEDURE.

His wife and children are the most amenable to a man's example and orders, but unless he is all right in his example and procedure, they will not be or do what is right;-how much less other men ! On the latter part compare Ana. XIII. xiii.

CH. X. CORRUPT TIMES ARE PROVIDED AGAINST BY ESTABLISHED VIRTUE. Compare the Doctrine of the Mean, XX. 16.

CH. XI. A MAN'S TRUE DISPOSITION WILL APPEAR IN SMALL MATTERS, WHEN A LOVE OF FAME MAY HAVE ENABLED HIM TO DO GREAT THINGS. Choo He says on this :-" A man is seen not so much in things that require an effort as in things which he thinks little of. By bearing this in mind when we observe him, we can see what he really rests in." Chaou K'e, on the contrary, takes the utterance superficially, as an approval of the love of fame.

CH. XII. THREE THINGS ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE WELL-BEING OF A STATE: THE RIGHT MEN; THE RULES OF PROPRIETY; AND WISE AD

MINISTRATION.

Par. 1. This condition not obtaining, such men will leave the State, aud then it will become as if no men were in it.